Dissertation

Title: Assessing and Improving Patient Understanding of Publicly Reported Healthcare-Associated Infection-Related Hospital Quality Measures

Committee chair: Anthony D. Harris MD, MPH

Successfully defended: November 3, 2015

DOI: doi:10713/5055

Specific Aims

Aim 1: We assessed understanding of HAI data as presented on CMS Hospital Compare among a random sample of University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) patients. Participants compared HAI data for two hospitals, and the accuracy of their comparisons was assessed.

Published in Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, 2015. [PubMed | PDF | Press release]

Aim 2: We analyzed nationwide HAI data to determine their utility in distinguishing among hospitals, and assessed characteristics of this dataset (e.g. geographic areas with hospitals that have substantially different HAI denominators or risk-adjustment profiles) that inform how HAI data are presented.

Published in Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, 2017. [PubMed | PDF]

Aim 3: We developed a new method for presenting HAI data to the public. We then conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing this new method to the method from CMS Hospital Compare among a random sample of UMMC patients.

Published in Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, 2016. [PubMed | PDF]

Additional materials:

Dedication

To Natalie Banet, Eliza June Banet Masnick, George Masnick, and Reisa Kahn.

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge the chair of my dissertation committee, Dr. Anthony Harris, for his excellent mentorship and willingness to support my dissertation research, and for introducing me to poutine.

The other members of my dissertation committee were also a pleasure to work with, and provided great advice and feedback. Thank you to Dr. Jessica Brown, Dr. Mark Macek, Dr. Daniel Morgan, Dr. Penny Rheingans, and Dr. John Sorkin for all the time and effort you put into this research.

I was lucky to work in the Division of Genomic Epidemiology and Clinical Outcomes while conducting my dissertation research. I would like to thank the GECO faculty, staff, and other graduate students for providing an intellectually stimulating and friendly environment: Dr. Jennifer Albrecht, Dr. Lindsay Croft, Sarah Jackson, Dr. Surbhi Leekha, Dr. Dan Morgan, Chris Pepin, Lisa Pineles, Dr. Clare Rock, Dr. Mary-Claire Roghmann, Dr. Kristen Stafford, Dr. Colin Stine, Dr. Kerri Thom. Additionally, I would like to acknowledge Dr. Stine for generously providing the initial funding for my tuition and stipend, and for his support and mentorship throughout my time at University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Finally, I would like to thank my family for their love and support.